From Visualization to Manipulation of RNA Secondary and Tertiary Structures

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an important molecule which performs a wide range of functions in biological systems. We present a method for visualizing, exploring and editing RNA molecules. The method relies on the visualization of the 3D tertiary structure of RNA as well as on the automatic extraction and visualization of the 2D secondary structure. The 2D representation is used to navigate in the tertiary structure. The method has been implemented in a multi-surface interactive system, NAVRNA, that allows collaborative analysis of RNA.